Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday made it clear he has no intention of doing away with a program that allows each of the city's 50 aldermen to decide how to spend their own $1.3 million pots of money on construction projects.

His defense of the so-called menu money came the day after Inspector General Joseph Ferguson recommended axing the program and instead letting the city Department of Transportation make those decisions.

Emanuel said the program allows residents, through their elected representatives, to have direct input on how the money is spent.

"I actually think you want the neighborhood input and you want the aldermanic input," Emanuel said after announcing an $18.2 million rehab of the CTA's Quincy Loop station. "And I think that's a good way to go, and I don't think those ideas should be generated out of downtown. I think they actually should come from the residents that make up our many, many different neighborhoods."

Left unsaid by the mayor was the political battle he'd have on his hands if he tried to ax the menu program, which was launched under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley about 20 years ago, not long after a near-majority of aldermen staged a council floor revolt demanding more money for local street repairs.

City Hall's top watchdog on Thursday took aim at a program treasured by aldermen, recommending the city stop letting each of them control $1.3 million a year spent on construction projects in their wards, but the idea was swiftly rejected by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration and City Council...

City Hall's top watchdog on Thursday took aim at a program treasured by aldermen, recommending the city stop letting each of them control $1.3 million a year spent on construction projects in their wards, but the idea was swiftly rejected by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration and City Council...

(Hal Dardick)

Taking away the menu money would further diminish the power of aldermen, who under Emanuel and Daley before him have seen their influence erode. Emanuel moved to a grid-based garbage pickup system that lessened the role of ward superintendents, and Daley launched a 311 system that let residents seek services directly from City Hall rather than through their alderman.

When Emanuel first took office at City Hall in mid-2011, there was some talk of eliminating the menu program, but he kept it after aldermen made it clear they wouldn't take that sitting down. He did set firmer guidelines about how the money could be spent.

The bulk of the money is spent on street, alley, sidewalk, street light and bike path improvements, but millions of dollars a year also is spent on items like items like police surveillance cameras, basketball courts, spray pools, murals, decorative garbage cans and flower baskets.

A version of this article appeared in print on April 23, 2017, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Mayor: Keep giving aldermen $1.3M each for ward projects" —
Today's paperToday's paper | Subscribe